Windows 7 sports the new XP Mode, which allows you to run Windows XP in a Virtual Machine. This is great for running legacy applications that refuse to run in Vista or Windows 7 new security model. This is a very welcome addition to the new OS, and should solve a lot of complaints that businesses and home users alike have been having.

Windows 7 sports the new XP Mode, which allows you to run Windows XP in a Virtual Machine. This is great for running legacy applications that refuse to run in Vista or Windows 7 new security model. This is a very welcome addition to the new OS, and should solve a lot of complaints that businesses and home users alike have been having.

I decided to install it and give it a try. First thing is first when installing XP Mode: download it from Microsoft's download page. It takes a few steps to get it installed, as you are installing the Virtual PC application, then adding the Windows XP Virtual Machine. It will require a reboot, but once everything is installed, you'll be ready to launch Windows XP inside of Windows 7, and be supported by Microsoft.

Sure, people have been using Virtualization for years to run legacy OS's inside of others (VirtualPC, VirtualBox, DOSBox, etc.), but this includes a licensed copy of Windows XP SP3 and is ready to go from Microsoft.

After you have installed XP Mode, you can launch it from the Start menu, under All Programs, Windows Virtual PC, then click Windows Virtual XP. At the first run, you should see a few screens to get you started. First, the mandatory License Agreement we see often and love so much from Microsoft:

Next, you can add some credentials to Windows XP, for security purposes:

Then the mandatory Automatic Updates prompt:

Then you are greeted with a couple more screens. These can take a couple minutes, but they are just getting the Virtual Machine all set up. Nothing major in terms of time, and defintely very quick compared to a full install of an OS! Just remember that it is setting it up for your hardware as well.

After that, you are finally greeted with the Windows XP screen that you know and love. It's just as easy as moving your mouse in the windows and using it, just like any other application in Windows. This time, though, it is a complete OS that you are running. But, you are starting with a blank machine. Nothing is installed, no AV, no programs. It's just a clean Windows XP SP3 install. This is great for a lot of people, but it does require more work to get it set up for protection. I'll leave that to you to decide how and what you want installed!

It uses a single core from my Core2Duo, which is awesome, so I can use the other core for Windows 7. I am not sure how it would utilize quad or more cores. I would guess that it would only use a single core. It also is only using 256MB of RAM by default.

I have a little bit of memory free with the default configuration, but if I were to launch a couple programs, I know I would be hurting for resources. If you have the memory, you should probablybump this up to at least 512M.

It also maps my local drives as network drives in My Computer. No work was done by me to do this, it is how is was installed. Very helpful, Microsoft!

And of course, all the original games are still there for those that miss the older versions of Solitare and Mine Sweeper!

Finally, when you shut down the Virtual Machine, it puts it into Hibernation Mode for a quick recovery when you need to use it again.

This has been just a quick introduction to XP Mode in Windows 7. I am continuing to do some benchmarks and use it to test for compatibility. I will update soon with the results. These will not only include synthetic benchmarks from various vendors, but also some real world tests. Please keep in mind, though, that not only is XP Mode a new feature, it is also being tested in a beta version of the Host OS (Windows 7 RC1 build 7100, x64).

XP Mode is working well so far, it is stable, fast, and easy to use. Just like the original Windows XP. Keep watching for the updates with benchmarks! I have to get to work on seeing if I can break this VM!

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